10-008: Beginning of Schools in the Peace River District

The second school in the district was built east of Dawson Creek. It was built in a matter of a couple of years after Everett Miller started the one at Rolla. It was a log building and was constructed near the creek in the approximate location of the Cedar Lodge Motel today. This school serviced quite an area around it including the village of Dawson Creek, then located to the west of the present location, in the area around the Canalta skating rink of today. It came under the jurisdiction of the Provincial government within a short time after it was built.

Teachers at that time received the grand and munificent sum of between $900 and $1000 a year for their efforts. Their wages were paid, or a portion of them at least by grants from the Provincial government.

The school here came into being mainly because initial settlement of the region was near Pouce Coupe and Dawson Creek rather than at Rolla and therefore more children were in the area.

By the time Tom Jamieson arrived back from the war there was also a school at Pouce Coupe, located on the DeWetter quarter just north of the present village. At the time Tom became chairman of the board and Joe DeWetter was Secretary-Treasurer. Later on the school was moved closer to the present village and soon school taxes came into being and this helped in the building of a new structure. This was a frame building. School taxes came into being sometime during the war, or very shortly afterwards and have never been taken off. Tom thinks that the first school in Pouce Coupe was built in 1918.

Shortly after Tom arrived back he was visited by an Assessor from the Provincial Government who arrived in the district from Quesnel. After conferring with Tom about land values in the area he said, “What do you think, I was thinking of assessing these quarters at about $10,000 each”. Tom laughingly told him, “If you do that you had better think of a way of getting out of the country in a hurry.”

The thinking of this man from the outside was along the lines of land in other parts of the province which were more developed. Eventually, after conferring with a number of local people the assessed value was arrived at and turned out to be comparatively easy. Taxes amounted to about $25 per year per quarter. This remained true for a long time.

Until a person proved up on his land, about five years, there were no taxes paid on the land but once the title was granted the assessor put a value on it and taxes had to be paid to the Provincial government.

This, in a way, was an odd way of doing things, because all land sales and homesteading and other government business was being carried on by Ottawa. Yet the tax structure, at the same time, was set up and collected by the provincial body.

Lester Harper was appointed as Provincial Assessor along about this time and held the job for many years after that. This is also true of taxes on land within the village, for, until the village actually came into being as a village the taxes went to the Provincial Government.

Switching for a moment back to talk of the hospital Tom said that most of the food for patients and nurses was either paid in as pay for hospital stays or donated. Some of the prices of commodities which he quoted were: butter 25¢ a pound, meat about 25¢ a pound and no sale for eggs.

The member of the legislature who was charged with looking after this area was from Prince George and paid little or no attention to the area except when he heard of some need. In this way when a need for funds was brought up grants were usually available if the need could be plainly shown. One of the members who represented this area, through Fort George constituency, was Johnny Frazer who later became a member of the constituency of Cariboo in the federal house. Another was a doctor from somewhere way down in the riding. Only time the members were ever seen in this area was at election time. Harry Parry also was a member and later became speaker for the House.

Glen Braden became the first elected member of the Legislature for this area. He served three or four terms and then eventually the district was split into the North and South Peace Ridings, as they are today.